Hot Sauces That Are Actually Worthy Of Your Pantry Space

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Everyone has a favorite hot sauce, one they're willing to throw the gauntlet down over. It's this passion that makes investigating the hot sauce scene so much fun. Open up a friend's kitchen cabinet, and you're likely to see at least a few bottles of various hot sauces — start snooping in everyone's kitchen, and you'll start to see a few repeat bottles. While, ideally, there is always room for more hot sauce in your life, and lots of people love to make their own hot sauce at home, which blends deserve prime real estate in your pantry? 

We scoured the internet, visited specialty shops, and suffered heartburn from tasting so much delicious, fiery hot sauce and came up with this list. You can buy many of these hot sauces at your local grocery store, but some are from small-batch gourmet companies or only made outside of the United States. From Caribbean style to Louisiana style and everything in between, these sauces will make any pantry a hot place to be. You can read more about how we chose these hot sauces at the end of the article. 

Lots of people have more than one sauce featured on hit show "Hot Ones" in their pantry — but if you had to choose one, what would it be? Folks would probably say Los Calientes Verde. This green sauce is overwhelmingly popular, and we can see why. This is a bright, fresh-tasting hot sauce that can be used on basically anything. The spice is mild, but the flavors keep you coming back. With a smoky blend of serrano and habanero peppers, fruits such as apricot, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, and other spices, this sauce reigns on best-of lists. 

Made by Karma Sauce in Rochester, New York, Los Calientes Verde was a joint creation between Brooklyn hot sauce store Heatonist and Karma owner Gene Olczak. Heatonist, which helps curate sauces for "Hot Ones," sent Olczak a description of the kind of sauce needed, and they worked together until the right flavor came out. Gordon Ramsay, who made a delightfully profanity-laden appearance on Season 8, Episode 1, really enjoyed this sauce: "That's quite nice. I like that," he said. "It's quite zesty."

If you're having eggs for breakfast, there'd better be a bottle of Cholula nearby. Cholula has a lingering heat but is really pleasant and mildly garlicky. This Mexican company uses árbol and piquin peppers and other spices to make a tangy, complex-tasting sauce for everyday use — and brunch would not be the same without it. 

Made in Jalisco, Mexico, from a century-old recipe, Cholula's name comes from an ancient Aztec city with a sad backstory. According to history, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés arrived in Mexico during the early 16th century and visited Cholula after being invited by Aztec emperor Montezuma. The invitation was actually part of an ambush plan, but Cortés was warned in advance. He orchestrated a bloodbath and destroyed much of the city. Today, though, people come from all over to marvel at Cholula's archaeological park and volcanoes — and we can enjoy the hot sauce anytime.

A regular on "best of" lists, Cholula impresses everyone from hot sauce newbies to aficionados used to gourmet batches and brands that burn their faces off. It's not always about intense heat, folks — it's about the blending of flavors and balance, and this hot sauce succeeds on both of those fronts. One Amazon reviewer called Cholula the "Beyoncé of condiments, but with a fiery twist."

With a combination of scotch bonnet peppers, mustard, tropical fruit, carrot, and other Caribbean-style flavors, Angry Goat Pepper Company's Dreams of Calypso is a hot sauce with distinct flavor and balance. If you want more heat, you can try Dreams of Calypso Private Reserve, which is made with blazing seven-pot yellow peppers. The mustard comes across in this sauce, which makes it an interesting and, dare we say, necessary addition to a spice pantry that might lean heavily toward habanero sauces.

Customers rave about how flavorful Dreams of Calypso is when used with pork, rice, and beans. "Initially, fruit and peppery to the taste, then hit you with a wave of moderate heat on the tongue and back of the throat, finishes with a wonderful bouquet of calypso flavored aromas," one reviewer wrote. "This was one of the most flavorful hot sauces I've ever had," said another. We agree! 

The Calabria region of Southern Italy is known for its spice-forward cuisine, and one of the star ingredients is the Calabrian chili pepper. Calabrian chilis are similar to other varieties of chili pepper that grow across the globe, but they have a unique quality due to the Mediterranean climate they grow in, enjoying temperate weather with little rain during the summer and lots of sunlight. Additionally, the soil's acidity and the type of fertilizer used also provide a distinct growing environment. There are three main kinds of Calabrian chili pepper: skinny and pointy (sigaretta), cone-shaped (naso di cane), and round (carasella). 

This brings us to Trader Joe's. No, you don't have to go to an Italian specialty store to purchase Italian hot sauce. Trader's Joe's Italian Bomba Hot Pepper Sauce is a brilliant, bright, zesty, and mild condiment, and it features a bit of fermented funk, to boot. You can mix this versatile condiment into sauces and pestos, put a dollop on a cheese board, use it on sandwiches, and slather it on your eggs. 

Louisiana-style hot sauces often seem like they're in a unique category of their own. Their flavor profile is more vinegary, their consistency is thinner, their heat level is not scorching, and they are saltier. While there are lots of vinegar-based "Louisiana-style" hot sauces out there — and people can get temperamental about their preferred brands — Crystal consistently comes up as a fan favorite, even among high-profile restaurant celebrities. David Chang, known for his Momofuku chain, said on a Reddit "ask me anything" thread that his preferred brand of hot sauce is Crystal. 

Made from long cayenne peppers, Crystal hot sauce is salty, tart, and not too hot. What sets it apart from many other hot sauces is that the entire cayenne pepper is used, seeds and all, in production. A neat bit of lore? The company was founded in 1923 by Alvin Baumer, who supposedly discovered the recipe in a drawer in an old factory. 

Nepal really knows heat — and Aama ko Achar's Dalla Pickle In Oil is a wonderful addition to your spice collection. While not exactly a sauce, this offering of hot cherry pepper, sunflower oil, salt, and spices adds heat and complexity to South Asian dishes like momos, dal bhat, chatamari, and thukpa. You can also use it on rice, meats, in sandwiches — anything, really. It's rich, flavorful, and brings a good amount of heat.

Nepalese, Tibetan, and Bhutanese food has long been popular in places like Jackson Heights in Queens, but now more people in the U.S. are discovering these particular regional cuisines and embracing their use of spices like garlic, fenugreek, turmeric, cumin, and hot sauces like those from Aama ko Achar. Aside from Dalla Pickle In Oil, you can also order Dalla & Garlic Paste Pickle, Hot Mango Pickle, Dalla Lime Pickle, and others. 

If you're a fan of Bravado Spice Co, you might have wondered where its Crimson Hot Sauce went. Well, as the company states in an Instagram post, Árbol Chili & Garlic is its "elevated twin" — or, in other words, an updated version of that fabulous sauce. Described by the website as a "fresh spin on a classic hot sauce with a blend of smokey árbol chilies, garlic, ripe red jalapeños, and a touch of cumin," Árbol Chili & Garlic is a great everyday sauce and a must-have for your pantry. Reviewers agree: "The combination of hot peppers, garlic, and a zing from the lime juice creates a wonderful flavor profile," said one user on Amazon. 

The company is always pushing the envelope in terms of combining unusual flavors. If you are interested in Bravado's more creative blends, check out Ghost Pepper & Blueberry Sauce, Aka Miso Ghost Reaper Sauce, and Black Garlic Carolina Reaper Hot Sauce. 

There are so many fantastic hot sauces out there — it's hard to choose the best! We consulted hot sauce fans, visited hot sauce shops, read reviews and best-of lists, and burned our mouths to bring you this list. We also made sure to emphasize diversity by providing both supermarket favorites and up-and-coming small-batch makers with growing reputations. Lastly, every good hot sauce pantry should contain a variety of flavors, not just focus on one pepper. So we looked for much-loved hot sauces from across cultures and geographical locations, paying attention to spices used and unique ingredients.